Two Goals, One Reality
by Katana King
Summary: I have two goals in life.  One is to achieve a title and one is to achieve a love.  Reality opened my eyes and I cannot have them both.  Can I accomplish one, without losing the other?  [NaruSaku]
1. My New Dream

**Another idea just popped into my my head and hopefully it's a little different from my other stories. I've read so many great stories from so many great authors that I suddenly felt the urge to start up another story. Again, if you read this story, please leave some sort of review. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but if I did, then I would have picked a better name for the 4th Hokage. (Don't ask me for a name)**

**My New Dream**

A blond haired Hokage sat at his desk, scribbling furiously on the piece of paper, droplets of tears dripping from his face as he wrote it. Beside him was his old mentor, a white haired Toad Sage that had the power of a Sannin. The now composed Hokage took the paper and shoved it into the envelope along with his signature on the side. Giving it to his former mentor, the now battle ready Hokage took one last look at the Sannin and then at the letter, and then to him again.

Picking up something from the ground, it let out a soft cry, as he stood to jump off the ledge from his window. A violent shake of the earth made itself known and the departing Hokage looked back towards the other man.

"I will leave this village soon, and I hope that this boy will be known as a hero."

"Maybe, but you know how hot-headed these villagers are."

"I know. It is my last wish to the village."

"But I won't be around to watch him grow up. Who knows what they might do to him."

"I'm sure that is what will happen. But I know this boy can change their way of thinking, for he is the true inheritor of the Will of Fire. This boy can change it, and village will prosper."

"Don't you think it's a little harsh to make him go through this?"

Before the young Hokage could answer that, a huge gust of wind made it to the building, as well as a powerful earthquake. The building was starting to break down, and it was too dangerous to just sit and talk like this. Seeing no other solution, the blond haired Hokage just took one last glimpse at his mentor, then to the bundle in his arms, and silently said goodbye. He jump off from the ledge, and using one of his arms to support the baby in his arms, bit his free hand and summoned a huge toad in the air.

"I guess this is my last ride with you, Gama."

"So, you're willin' to do it, huh?"

"Yes. As the Hokage of Konoha, it is my duty to die for the village."

"You are a true warrior. Let's go get that demon."

Standing on the top of the huge toad's head, they rode off to face the terror that was causing this destruction. Looking down at the child in his arms, a single tear fell off as he whispered something to him.

"I'm sorry to do this to you, but I have faith in you. You will lead our village out of the darkness that is to come, and I know that you can do it. Please, when you find out, I hope you forgive me as the Hokage and as your father."

* * *

6 years later, a young child could be seen standing in the middle of a large group. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and a blanket clutched in his right hand. The group was shouting out profanities at the young boy and some even threw rocks at him. However, despite this, the boy did not cry, he did not yell, he didn't even feel angry. The first few times the villagers did this, he sure did do all of that, but by now, after 2 years of this torment, he got used to it. Still, the villagers did this to him and he didn't even know why. The minute he was able to walk on his own, the villager had pointed at him and started cursing at him in which a huge mob formed. 

What was wrong with him? Did he do something bad? If he did, what did he do? Was it because he had no parents? Was it because he was blond? Was it because he had blue eyes? Questions like those ran through his mind constantly and he seriously did not know any answers. Once, he stared into his reflection dressed only in his boxers and thought about everything that's happened to him. He knew that the villagers hated him, and he even asked them why, yet they didn't answer his question and just kept throwing rocks at him.

That thought just made him completely snap and for a second, he saw a strange mark appear on his stomach. He grew very curious as to why that happened and thought that maybe the villagers knew about it and that's why they were angry at him. Still, he didn't show anyone his body bare body before, so how could they have known. So he sat there confused and just overridden with thoughts about his life.

Surrounded by the same crowd that always appeared when he went out in public, he just stood there. Just one minute in the park and he was already the center of attention. This time, though, the villagers said a lot more things than before, and one even shouted "demon!" at him which caused the crowed to grow into a major uproar. He noticed two people appear from the crowd, holding sharp knives in their hands. For the first time in a long time, he felt scared. His body felt numb and for just a moment he thought that this is for the best. He pushed that thought back with an unknown force and looked towards the two men approaching him. If he was going to die, he might as well die with a fight.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a poof of smoke appeared and when it cleared, the villagers looked shocked and scared. They backed off, and some people even tried running away. Naruto was facing the back of a man with long white robes, and some sort of hat. Beside him were two other people, wearing masks and a sword on their backs. The young boy looked at them like they were angels sent by Kami himself to save him and just stared aimlessly at them. An old man's voice broke him from his gazing and turned his head to the backside of the man speaking.

"What type of villagers are you? Attacking a defenseless child out of nowhere?"

"But Hokage-sama, that child is a dem-"

"That is enough!," Naruto knew the old man sounded angry, "If you don't get away from here, I will have my ANBU deal with your shameful behavior!"

Instantly the crowd broke apart, low grumbles emitting from their constant departure. As for the two men with the knives, they were arrested and taken in by the ANBU, who simply poofed away. Naruto stood in amazement as the crowd just simply left when the guy in the robes yelled at them. Whoever this man was, he was very grateful to him and he just couldn't contain his amazement. When he noticed that the man had turned around, he looked up towards him with a strange glint in his eyes that the man known as the Hokage could understand perfectly.

"Are you okay?" The old man said, concern evident in his voice, making the young child respect this guy even more.

"Yes! And it's all thanks to you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you-"

"It's okay, Naruto."

Stopping his jumping and energized body, he look towards the Hokage, confusion showing in his eyes.

"How'd you know my name? I haven't even met you before."

"That's not important right now," at this, the boy identified as Naruto, pouted, "but don't worry. I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."

The blond haired kid just tilted his head to the side and stared at him as the last events went through his mind.

"What's a Hokage?" Naruto spoke up suddenly, remembering what one of the guy's called him.

Of course, the geezer didn't seem surprised by this outburst. "A Hokage is the respected leader of the Leaf village. All the villagers look up to him and respect him a lot."

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he realized he was talking to such a highly respected authority and quickly looked towards the ground.

"O-oh, I guess since your so high up, speaking to me is bad. I'll just go now." He began to walk away before the Hokage's voice sounded.

"Hold on! You are not bad. If anyone in the village is bad, its the villagers themselves."

"What?"

"Come Naruto. Let's take a walk."

The blond haired kid just nodded furiously, not about to lose the chance of a potential friend. They walked along the path in the park, and noticed a few glares from the people in the park, even from some kids.

"Don't mind them. Don't worry, you'll be safe with me." Again, Naruto just nodded and tried to think of a conversation.

"So what does a Hokage do?"

The old Hokage just pondered for a second and look down at his companion.

"Well, the Hokage does a lot of things. It is the title given to the strongest ninja of the village, and leads the village into justice and goodness. The Hokage is highly respected and has the full leadership of its fellow ninja."

"Wow! So you're the strongest guy in this village! How cool is that! Plus, if ninja are those guys that arrested those other guys, then being the leader of them is super cool! And everybody looks up to you and respects you!"

He just nodded his head, smiling at the youngster's enthusiasm about Hokage. Suddenly, his head jerked up, and had a determined look on his face. The Hokage looked at him confused to his sudden reaction.

"Thats it!"

"What's it, Naruto?"

"My new goal! From this day on, my new goal is to become the Hokage of this village and gain the respect of all the villagers! That way, they can look up to me and won't hate me anymore!"

"The path to Hokage is hard. It will take all your effort, all your strength, and all your heart to achieve this title. Are you willing to go through all of that?"

"If getting that title means being respected by the village, then I will do everything within my power to achieve that goal!" He tilted his head up, facing the sky. "You here that! I will be the next Hokage!"

Seeing him shout that out to the sky brought a huge smile on his face. He had no doubt in his mind that he was going to achieve that dream. After all, he is the true inheritor of the Will of Fire.

* * *

**Not a long chapter, but it is only the first chapter. I promise that the next chapters will get longer and the story will get better as it goes on. Although it won't turn NaruSaku for a while, I guarantee you it will. The next chapter will show you that, so for now, this story will be placed in the NaruSaku place. **

**Please guys, review! Review!! REVIEW!!! Don't just alert this or favorite this or just read and wait for the next chapter, I really want your reviews. It brings motivation to me as the writer to keep writing. I understand if you're running out of time and can't leave a review, but please leave one if you do have time. I know I get lazy and don't review, but I always go back and send in one.**

**Why can I never stop ranting about reviews?**

**review! Review!! REVIEW!!!**


	2. To Protect

**Updating this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto owns me...wait...I...um...forget it. Just know I don't own Naruto.**

**To Protect**

His day just went from bad to good. What started out as a bad day in the park, turned into a life changing part of his life. He just couldn't believe it. First, the strongest ninja of this village was talking to him without hate and detest in his voice. Then, he gets the chance to take a walk with him and keep talking with him. He felt he could trust this old geezer and although he was old, the blond haired kid knew he was strong and powerful. Now, he set his new goal for himself to take his title and be the who they look up to and not the other way around.

They continued their walk throughout the park. Naruto kept asking about the job of the Hokage and slightly pouted that he would have to sit in the office for most of the day, just reading and signing countless amounts of papers. He got over that fact rather easily, knowing that the other part of the job was the most important part. He would be respected, he would be strong, he would be the leader. He knew that from this day on, his life would take a dramatic turn and that he would have to work at being a ninja of Konoha. The Hokage said that he would be able to make Naruto attend the Academy, which made Naruto even more ecstatic than he already was.

"Thanks old man!" The 'old man' slightly cringed, but he knew long ago that he was old.

"Don't mention it Naruto. In my eyes, I should be thanking you."

This got a very confused look on his face as he contemplated at what he was saying.

"Why should you, the Hokage, be thanking me, the most hated six-year old in the village?"

"Don't worry Naruto. I'm sure you will figure it out soon enough."

A small pout graced his lips knowing that he won't be able to figure out why he wouldn't tell him. Turning his face back to more of a cheerful expression, he looked towards the Hokage as he thought of something else.

"How strong are you?" The man in the robes thought about it for a minute before replying back to Naruto.

"Naruto, what do you think strength is?"

"Well, um, I guess strength is how powerful you are and how much people you can beat up."

"Naruto, that way of thinking turns people into power seeking freaks who eventually leave everything in their lives in search for their own selfish needs."

The whiskered face kid just nodded, understanding what he was saying.

"So then what is strength?"

Again the robe clad man pondered for a bit before turning to Naruto with a smile.

"Do you have any precious people to protect?"

The boy just tilted his head down, obvious that meant he was all alone in his life. Seeing this, the Hokage knelt down beside him and rested his hand on his shoulder. The blond's head shot up, looking straight at the Hokage's eyes.

"It's okay, Naruto. I know how bad it is to live alone, with no one to comfort you when you are down. To be all by yourself, the only kind of communication with society are glares and shouts full of hate."

The old man could see pain reflecting off of his eyes. Naruto's usual crystal blue eyes darkened, showing how sad he was feeling at the moment. Being only six years old and having to go through all of this would usually drive them into insanity, but the Hokage knew that this little boy was using all of his will to push back those thoughts and work to forgive all of the villagers for their action.

"But do not worry. Now, you at least have one person to protect."

The whiskered faced blond slowly looked at the man before him, confusion evident on his face.

"What do you mean? Who is it?"

"Me, of course."

He answered with a bright smile plastered on his face. This caused Naruto's mood do a complete 180 as he looked into the man's eyes to see if there was any deception. True enough, he meant it and that meant that he finally had a friend, him being the Hokage as a bonus. Today was truly the greatest day of his life. They stood up and continued their walk through the park.

"So old man, how strong are you?"

"The more people I have to protect, the stronger I become. Power isn't just how big your muscles are or how many people you can beat up, it's what you do with your own strength is what gives you power. Greedy power can make you strong, but protective power can make you even stronger."

"So if I have any precious people to protect, then I'll become strong."

"Worked for me, worked for all the other Hokages, and I am certain it will work for you."

"Then I'll protect you with my life."

"That's a good thing to hear, next Hokage."

Naruto's grin just widened even more as they continued their stroll through the park. As they rounded a corner, they spotted a group of boys surrounding a girl. The blue-eyed kid saw a very pretty pink headed girl in the center on her knees, crying. That really hurt him, to see someone else get bullied. He could hear them shouting something about forehead and wide and some other stuff that seemed to upset her even more. Getting tired of watching, he left his new friend and headed towards the group.

"Hey!"

The tormenting group turned around to see a little kid coming up to them, angry eyes glaring into them. His cerulean blue eyes were somewhat slitted and you could tell he was seething with anger. The kids got a cold chill run down their spine, but they stood their ground, attempting to not look scared.

"Leave her alone!"

One of the boys, who seemed to be the leader of their group, merely snorted and looked towards the kid.

"What if we don't?"

"Then I'd have to do this!"

He charged towards him with speed he didn't know he had. Maybe it was from running away from the villagers all the time? Oh well, he would figure it out later. He knew that being bullied on was not very good, especially to such a pretty girl like her. She just looked at what was developing. Minutes before, she was being teased again for her huge forehead and then all of a sudden, this blond haired boy comes and charges the meanest guy she knew. The leader just stood there knowing he couldn't hurt him since he was like what, 5 or 6? Oh how wrong he was.

"OWWWWWWWW!"

Naruto kicked him right where it hurts the most, and did a slight uppercut to the chin which knocked him unconscious. The other members looked towards the boy, anger on their faces. They began cracking their knuckles and pounding their fists into their hands.

"Little punk! You'll pay for that!"

Another boy charged towards Naruto and drew his hand back for a punch. Seeing his chance, Naruto stepped to the side stuck out his leg making the speeding boy trip and land face first on the ground. Wails could be heard from him as he flipped and gripped his nose, yelling for his mommy.

"Anyone else?"

The other boys just looked around and just walked off. They dragged off their leader along with their injured friend. The pink haired girl just looked on in amazement at the kid who did this for her. She saw that he was headed this way and proceeded to pick herself off from the ground. Dusting off her dress, she worked on adjusting her ribbon, only to face the boy who saved her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Thank you for helping me."

"No problem. I just hate seeing such pretty girls get picked on by meanies."

She just blushed at hearing him call her pretty. No one except her parents ever called her pretty because of her wide forehead and her only other friend she had was a blond girl named Ino.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. What's your's?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Haruno Sakura."

"That is such a beautiful name, Sakura-chan."

Again, she blushed at Naruto's compliment and the added suffix to her name. The blond merely smiled at her which created this knot in her stomach as she stared at his face. She noticed his blue eyes as they shined so joyously, yet held a dark secret. His messy blond hair swayed in the gentle breeze and she noticed that his gaze matched her's. Naruto noticed her entrancing emerald eyes, thinking that they were the most prettiest things he had ever seen. Her pink hair fluttered gently among the cool breeze and he noted that she was the most prettiest girls he had ever seen in his life. A voice broke them off from their trance.

"Sakura! Sakura!"

Her mother was calling out for her and Sakura just took one last glance at him.

"Goodbye Naruto. I hope I get to see you again."

"M-Me too, Sakura-chan."

She sped off in the direction of her mother, a bright smile gracing her face. Naruto returned to where the Hokage was standing.

"Nice job boy."

"Yeah! It was so cool! I didn't even know I could do that!"

"It's because you were protecting someone."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll just keep on training to get stronger so that I can protect you, Sakura-chan, and the village."

"That's what I like to hear."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Naruto bowed politely and sped off somewhere into the distance his crystal blue eyes shining with happiness and excitement. Even the hated glares coming from the townsfolk didn't faze his emotions right now and he headed towards Ichiraku Ramen for a little celebratory lunch.

"_Wow two friends in one day. This is the best day of my life!" _

"Mommy!"

The older pink haired woman turned towards her daughter, who was very happy and excited about something. Seeing her daughter so joyous like this piqued her interest and decided to ask about this.

"Sakura dear, why are you so happy today? When we came to the park, you just wanted to go home."

"Well..." She explained her day at the park starting from when the boys started bullying her. Of course, this earned 'your forehead is not overly huge' speech from her mom, but kept going on with her story about how this little blond kid came running up to them and beat them up. Her mother was very curious as to who this boy is and urged Sakura to keep going.

"We started talking to each other and I looked at his face. He was very handsome. He had these really mysterious blue eyes and his hair looked so soft and silky even if it was messy. Then I noticed he was looking at me too and he called me pretty twice."

She held up two fingers emphasizing her amazement. Her mother was ecstatic that Sakura found a crush even when she was only six years old. How cute.

"I think his name was Uzumaki Naruto."

Mrs. Haruno's face faltered as she found out who she was talking about. Instantly, she forgot everything Sakura told her and immediately picked her up and placed her in front of her. Sakura saw that her mother seemed angry and...scared, but she didn't know why.

"Don't you dare talk to him again! You here me! Stay away from that boy!"

Sakura started to tear up. The fact that her mother was yelling at her for an unknown reason and that she was telling her to stay away from a potential friend who was really nice tore up her heart.

"Why?"

"Sakura! He's a de...trouble maker! I want you to stay away from him and that's final!"

The pink haired child just looked down, stray tears dropping on the pavement home. Mrs. Haruno was just too worked up at the moment as she dragged Sakura by the arms to get out of the park. The little girl was very confused as she was being dragged by her mother back towards her home.

As Naruto was finishing up his second bowl of ramen, he felt a slight twinge of pain in his heart before shrugging it off and eating another bowl.

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